Judge blocks Brazilian assets of Vale, BHP after dam burst

RIO DE JANEIRO/SAO PAULO Dec 19 (Reuters) - A judge in
Brazil's state of Minas Gerais has frozen the Brazilian assets
of mining giants BHP Billiton and Vale SA after determining
their joint venture Samarco was unable to pay for damages caused
by a burst dam at its mine last month.

In a ruling issued late on Friday, the judge ruled that Vale
and BHP could be held responsible for the
disaster at the iron ore mine in the state of Minas Gerais, for
which the government is demanding 20 billion reais ($5 billion).

Vale told Reuters it had not yet been notified about the
decision. BHP did not immediately respond to a request for
comment. The companies are able to appeal.

The burst dam, which turned into Brazil's worst ever
environmental disaster, killed 16 people, left hundreds homeless
and polluted an 800 km-long river that flows across two states.

Despite the scale of the disaster, Vale had argued Samarco,
as an independent legal entity and a sizable company in its own
right, was wholly responsible for the accident and the
subsequent damages and fines.

But Federal Judge Marcelo Aguiar Machado disagreed. "I
understand to be correct the allegation that Vale and BHP, as
controllers of Samarco, can be classified as indirect polluters
and as such responsible for the environmental damage caused," he
wrote in his 19-page judgment.

The judgment did not specify the value of assets that had
been blocked, but mentioned prosecutor estimates that Samarco
did not have the funds to cover more that half of the 20 billion
reais being sought in damages.